i84 



RECREATION. 



tells the coon they're comin', so Mr. Coon 

 either puts it fer a hole in the ledges er 

 else picks out the biggest tree within a 

 mile an' goes up it. You can bet yer bot- 

 tom dollar the coons know whar all the 

 big trees be, too. This dog didn't give em 

 a chance fer any funny business, an' some- 

 times he'd put 'em up a saplin' not more'n 

 3 inches through. 



Waal, as I said, they found Sport barkin' 

 up a hemlock, an' he was fussin', an' walk- 

 in' 'round it an' every now an' then puttin' 

 his fore feet up on ter the butt as high as 

 he could reach, an' waggin' his tail ter beat 

 all, but never once takin' his eyes off the 

 tree. Oh ! He was a good one, I tell yer, 

 an' it makes my old blood feel good jest 

 ter think of 'im. 



Waal, Ab clim the tree, up 'mongst the 

 limbs out er Clarke's sight an' then hunted 

 the tree over an' found the coon. Thar 

 was a brush fence jest at the foot of the 

 tree that seemed ter worry Clarke a good 

 deal fer he thought mebbe Ab would shake 

 the coon off an' the dog be on one side 

 the fence an' the coon light on thother, an' 

 then git a good start an' like as not git 

 away from the dog inter the ledges; fer 

 he'd seen 'em do it. So he hollered an' 

 said : 



"Can ye see 'im?" 



"Eeup," says Ab. 



"Which side the fence '11 he strike on?" 



"I dunno," grunted Ab, mighty short. 



''Wall, hadn't we better find out an' git 

 the dog on ter the right side?" says Clarke, 

 kind er easy like, fer he begun ter think 

 he'd struck a queer combination of man 

 an' dog. 



"Y-o-u 1-e-t t-h-e d-o-g a-1-o-n-e a-n' 

 d-o-n-'t t-o-u-c-h 'i-m," says Ab, in a way 

 that meant business. 



Jest then he fired his revolver an' the 

 coon went down through them hemlock 

 limbs makin' more noise than a house fall- 

 in'. 



^D'id Sport git 'im?" yelled Ab. 



"Git 'im," says Clarke, "the coon struck 

 right in his mouth." 



Then pretty quick he begun ter look ter 

 see if he could find whar the bullet struck, 

 but he couldn't, an' hollered an' told Ab 

 so. 



"Mebbe," says Ab mighty slow an mod- 

 crate, "Mebbe," says he, "that I hit 'im in 

 the eye," an' Clarke looked, an' found one 

 eye was gone. 



"Waal, waal, sure enough you have, by 

 hokey!" says he. "Waal, ef that don't beat 

 all, by hokey!" 



After Ab looked the tree all over an' 

 found thar want any more in it, he come 

 down an' skinned the coon an' got ready 

 ter move on again, fer he knew the dog 

 could find some more ; but Clarke said no, 

 fer he'd seen enough ter satisfy him, so 

 he was willin' ter go back ter town. 



He told me all about it next day, an' 

 said Ab was a queer feller ; but, said he'd 

 like ter go huntin' with 'im right along, 

 fer, he said, he never enjoyed a coon hunt 

 any better in his life. 



"An," says he, when he told me about 

 the coon bein' shot in the eye, "I've been 

 thinkin' it over, an' have made up my mind 

 that he knew all the time after he fired 

 that he'd hit 'im in the eye." 



He was right, fer Ab would git his bulls- 

 eye ter strike a coon's face jest right, an' 

 then fetch 'im in the eye a' most every 

 time. 



Waal, ter make a long story short, Clarke 

 bought the dog, an' once after that I see 

 'im an' he told me that he took 'im down 

 in Maine an' got 15 coons with 'im the 

 first 3 nights. Says he: 



"Do you know, I didn't believe half what 

 you fellers told me about that dog, but 

 he's a better dog than you said, fer I 

 thought I'd seen coon dogs before, but I 

 never had." 



Oh ! He was a rippin' good one, an' 

 you might look fer 30 year, an' not find 

 another like 'im. 



What made me sell 'im? Waal, don't 

 yer fergit one thing, I got a mighty good 

 price fer 'im. I sha'n't say how much fer 

 ef I did, mebbe you might not believe it. 



"Do you believe that egotism and genius 

 go together?" 



"Not always. There would be a lot 

 more genius if they did." — Judge. 



